The federal government’s Pak Identity app, designed to register citizens for the targeted petrol subsidy program, is crashing with internal server errors as users attempt to sign up. Multiple users have reported that the app fails at the registration step after they enter their personal details, displaying a red error message reading “Something went wrong: internalServerError.”
TechJuice did their extensive research with more than 10 different mobile phones, and credentials to check the app health, and they all failed.
In our experiments, we found that the registration process requires users to enter their first name, last name, CNIC number and phone number. The app appears to accept the input but crashes when users hit the Register button, suggesting the backend servers are unable to handle the volume of incoming requests. The issue points to insufficient server capacity for a national-scale launch where millions of citizens are expected to register simultaneously.
The app is part of the government’s broader effort to deliver targeted fuel subsidies directly to eligible citizens during the ongoing energy crisis. With petrol prices elevated following weeks of global supply disruption caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure, demand for the subsidy program is expected to be significantly higher than under normal conditions. The government announced emergency austerity measures in March, including cutting fuel allowances for government departments by 50% and shortening the work week to four days.
The app is available on both Android and iOS, but not working on both ecosystems.
